After storm damage, one PPS school reopens, another not ready

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- As the 2024-25 school year nears its start, one Portland public school is ready to reopen following damage from the January winter storm, but another is still not quite ready.

When the winter storm hit the area, parents of students at Robert Gray Middle School and Markham Elementary were told it would take about a month to repair the damage to pipes, floors, ceilings, walls and furniture. That stretched much longer than a month.

Now, Robert Gray Middle School is set to reopen, but Markham Elementary remains closed.

"It was really clear that we weren't going to be going back on time," Gray Principal Lisa Newly said, "not as clear how long it would take. That was a surprise."

They took the opportunity to do additional upgrades to the building while the school was closed, she said.

On a tour of the refurbished school, Newly talked about the most damaged classroom. "The ceiling totally blown out, insulation on the floor, puddles of water, everything that was on the walls was wet."

Newly said the first time she saw the damage was a really hard day.

"It was hard to really understand the magnitude of what I was seeing and what that equated to, what our long term was going to be," she said.

"The building was open because teachers and students weren't here, and crawl spaces were available where we want to put infrastructure," Newly told KOIN 6 News. "We've got the start of what will be our tech upgrades. So teachers have the hardware that they need to do the instructional pieces that they need -- microphones and speakers -- for making sure all students can hear short-throw projectors."

During the last school year, Gray Middle shared space with Jackson Middle School.

Walking through the school now and seeing snowflake decorations, she said, is like being in a time capsule.

"We became the largest middle school in Oregon for about six months. We call ourselves Jay Gray," Newly said. "I'm forever in debt to Principal Ferraro and the staff at Jackson for welcoming us in."

But now that Gray has re-opened, the Markham students will share space at Jackson Middle School.

The goal, officials said, is to have Markham students back at Markham Elementary after winter break.